Carmen's old spot

Posted by
Mark S

Added
Jan
25
2013

Has there been any news on Carmen's old spot in the 6500 block of Sheridan. I have been walking by there everyday with the EL construction and wanted to see if anyone has heard of anything. There is supposed to be a new building and development going in on that block but I haven't heard anything recently.

good question...have not heard anything. Really sad, to see all the empty storefronts. they could be used for community clinics, learning centers, gathering spaces paid for by the High Rollers who enjoy fancy breakfasts at big hotels. With Rahm as their 'guest.'

Well, if Loyola can't turn a profit, they won't develop it. Why should they? All those wonderful plans for non profit entities are from an idealistic mindset. Not the board of Loyola's. They are in business just like everybody else. Get with the program. They are all the High Rollers you mentioned.

Last I heard, which was several months ago, was that Loyola was still trying to buy Brunos, the bar and liquor store next store to Carmens. Brunos is the only property on the block that Loyola does not own. And I agree, Carmens looks like a slum property, with its cracked windows and trash in the doorway.

Bruno Roti put the property into a trust in 1998 and that trust still holds title to the property. It appears that 6560-6564 Sheridan is the only building that is not owned by Loyola on that block.

For the lot at 6578 N SHERIDAN RD, CHICAGO, IL 60626-5312 Loyola paid $1,615.08 in total for the last two tax payments and for 6560 N Sheridan for the same time period the tax bill was $19.522.85. It doesn't seem fair to me that Loyola can benefit from the tearing down of a building and do nothing with the property.

I would like to ask an honest (and I sincerely am not trying to start anything or be rude) why everyone seems to have such an issue with Loyola? I personally am excited to be living near the university (we officially move on Sunday) and do not understand the animosity toward it. Is there something I'm missing?

I have no issue with living close to Loyola, maybe people who do have the perception that colleges always mean loud parties, and cheap apartments with cheaper tenants who do not give much regard for Rogers Park (e.g. littering, etc). This may or may not be true but I've never been effected by it. Every place has it's downsides. I feel like I live next to 5 schools (not including loyola!) which means I have to deal with parents dropping kids off late and ignoring crosswalks, parking restrictions, and the like. Grass is always greener on the other side! I love being near a world class learning institution like Loyola!

Hey amanda, i've been living in RP for about two years, and have many friends that go to loyola, i mean, its not so much a hatred of loyola as it is (for me) the people it attracts and its effect on the neighborhood. They don't really do a lot to stop gentrification of the neighborhood and in so doing actually become a major cause of it. Not to mention a lot of the people that go to loyola, not every single one mind you, just kind of suck, they know they'll be leaving in four years, don't really have a regard for the place they live, litter and (being college students) cause a fair amount of drunken hullabaloo. Its nothing terrible, but it gets on my nerves anyway...

Probably there are as many different reasons as there are neighbors. Rational and irrational (reasons and neighbors). One complaint is that religious institutions and universities do not pay the same taxes to the city as do private businesses and home owners. Land that they take off the tax records through expansion increases the property tax on everyone else. Some people don't like students living in the area; some don't like Jesuits or Catholic schools; some don't like just about anything at all. You are missing a hundred or so different things LOL.

There's another reason for animosity- the City created a TIF in 2004, and gave Loyola $46 million which they used to build some buildings, including mixed use commercial property. That's $46 million that the local schools DIDN'T get- it went instead to Loyola, benefiting not the large number of school kids at or below the poverty line in Rogers' Park, but rather benefiting the kids whose families can afford $34,090 a year in tuition and fees to attend Loyola. Needless to say the construction contracts given out by Loyola with this TIFF money went to the favorite contractors of local City politicians. So, the local kids get screwed while developers, consultants, contractors and their pet politicians ride the gravy train. See http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/public-funds-private-windfall/Content?oid=921129

Thanks for pointing this out. I was part of the team that fought the TIF 'tooth and nail.' We came close to winning (somewhat) but O'Connor and Garanzini and Company were far too ahead of us with $ and clout. An egregious violation of the separation of Church and State as well; which the slick Garanzini -O'Connor Gang side-stepped by creating a "Secular Corporation" that sucked up the funds belonging to our community and especially to the children of our area. The Catholic Church, quite obviously, cares nothing for children...it's all hot air, the hooha coming from their outrage about birth control/abortion blah blah. All Garanzini and Company care about is money and power. Making Loyola appealing to t he privileged 'students' from the 'burbs and other moneyed groups. We had to move out of a building that is a temporary 'pad' for these 'students' who spend a fortune on booze and leave their dwellings looking like a pig sty. Since, of course, when they are in Chicago, they are 'slumming' except to prepare themselves for their adventure into the big time. Good to see some attention to the terrible injustice created by TIFs and all who benefit from them. Thanks

EdgeBeach Amanda, the animosity towards LU stems from all the things you've read about in previous posts. The TIF is an especially sore spot for many of us living in the neighborhood surrounding LU. The local politicians are in LU's deep pockets. Nothing new - this is Chicago, right? And just as at any other college/university, the students seem to think they are somehow special and privileged, even while leaving litter and garbage in their wake, sauntering (drunk or sober, lol) across streets in front of moving vehicles while texting on their phones, completely oblivious. Nothing new there, either. They'll get their rude awakening once they're out in the real world.

But let's separate LU from the Catholic Church. LU, like most Catholic universities, is Catholic in name only. It's not about true Catholic education, by any stretch. Higher education is big business. If/when you have college-age children, you'll really see that. It's all about money - donors, property, tuition $$$ and endowments, etc. Guess I'm in a cynical mood now, but that's what Mr. Windavians and I both see.

Amanda, do a web search on "town and gown" - here's the wiki you'll find showing the adversarial relationship between higher ed institutions and those living around it goes back right to the beginning in the Middle Ages. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_and_gown May I also suggest that if you want to start a new topic of conversation you select the "Post" tab at the top of the page and get it going. Respectfully, I wanted to know more on what Mark S originally posted here, as in what are the future plans for the Carmen's spot.

I think other posters here to Amanda's question have done a great job of reflecting the current realities of our own "town and gown" with Loyola U., even if it is primarily from the "town" side of things. Thanks!

It all depends on what University and what church you might target for taxation. Their income would have to be at a reasonable level and their expenses within survival level. That would mean, of course, that Loyola could surely be taxed as they have an endowment of huge proportion. Who even knows how much! But many of the small community churches that provide social support systems with 'no strings attached' could easily go under if required to pay tax, outright. slash and burn methods are the bailiwick of the Right Wing. We don't want to get in line with them. thanks to all

Loyola is the land baron of Rogers Park and Edgewater. Over the last two decades THOUSANDS of affordable rental units have disappeared to become luxury (or rather REALLY expensive) student housing and commercial investments. Now they are working their way north on Sheridan. Add to that the unconscionable destruction of the Granada Theater (a studio apartment in the bldg now there, with two students, nets the college $16,000/school year--over $1600 a month!) and their attempt to landfill the lake to add more property to their portfolio and you've got some long-standing beefs. The attempt to landfill was halted after the state determined that the lake belonged to the people of Illinois and that Loyola could not consider it their private land even if they paid for the landfill. They have absorbed Kenmore and Winthrop avenues and have cut those off to the community (Did they ever pay for that?) and will absorb more city property in their project on Albion.

How does this level of greed and lack of concern for the poor and their immediate community fit in with the Jesuit mission?!

To answer your last question -It does not fit in. I suppose they would make some superficial week argument about general improvement of the neighborhood. (Hey we painted those buildings and now your neighbors are college kids instead of those icky lower middle class/working poor people.)

Question: When are the long term residents of RP and Edgewater going to organize, stand up and object as a group, make the Loyola takeover a little more difficult? Loyola has had it too easy in that regard the past few years.

Seems to me DePaul is a much better neighborhood influence than Loyola. They make an effort to be part of the community, while Loyola aspires to be more like a fortress keeping the despised "locals" as distant as possible. I assume DePaul does its own share of real estate bullying, though.